> DW wrote:
>
> >The early Spenser's were great,
> >Parker revolutionized the PI in the seventies, I
think. I mean, my info
> >has never really been that great, but who else
has given the PI a steady
> >relationship, made him tackle a sensitized
world, and have a PC code
while
> >not being exactly PC. (I don't think shooting
two people in a park is
> >exactly PC).
Actually one thing I really hate about the Spenser books is
the way Parker invents minority characters - Hawk, Rachael
Wallace - and then has them spend their whole time telling
Spenser what a great guy he is - thus attempting to con the
reader into subliminally thinking that real black
people,.lesbians, etc, etc think Parker's lumbering mixture
of fifties macho gallantry and seventies political chic is
really cool.
Linked to this is another thing I really hate about the
Spenser books - the way Hawk is forever saying hey I'm not a
stereotypical black man - look I like fancy food! -
immediately before he does a whole lot of stereotypical big
bad black guy stuff.
Also surely it's not an either/or to criticise Spenser for
being at heart a Marlowe clone and also to deplore the way
Parker self-consciously tries to get out of this trap by
simultaneously being talkier than Chandler - the ghastly
Susan stuff - and dumber than Chandler ever dreamt of being -
the sub James Bond stuff in Catskill Eagle et al.
Finally, Mr Pelecanos is surely right to point out the
influence Parker has had on younger writers. However, if you
look at the work of a basically very fine writer like Dennis
Lehane you can attribute almost everything wrong with his
books ( the Hawk-like figure of Bubba, the overblown endings)
to the tawdry influence of Parker.
John
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